Smoking pipe



United States Fatent l 3,323,526 SMKHNG lliE William Barry Doweil, 151 Hartley St., Brockville, ntario, Canada Filed .lune 3i), 1964, Ser. No. 379,286 3 Ciaims. (Cl. Lil-03) This invention relates -to a smoking pipe. More particularly, it relates to one which will dissipate moisture as it collects in the base of the bowl and tend to maintain a uniform moisture content in the smoke from the time that burning commences at the top of the bowl to the time that the tobacco is burned at the bottom of the bowl.

The aromatic freshness of tobacco smoke depends in part on the correct moisture content of the smoke. Tobacco in a fresh cigarette or a cigar, or fresh from the package in a pipe bowl has a proper moisture content. The odor passed into the adjacent air is pleasant. The first few puffs from a freshly loaded and lit pipe smell sweet and are not acrid to the tongue. If the .smoke entering the mouth becomes dry, sweetness to the sense of smell declines and a burning sensation is felt by the tongue and mouth. Generally, this dryness is a result of vapor in the smoke condensing at some point along the smoke duct. Once smoking has commenced, vapor condenses at the comparatively cool bottom of the bowl and the tobacco then becomes wet and diihcult to burn. Its vapors are bitter to the mouth and noxious to 4the smell. This water content in the unsmoked pa-rt is easily established: the paper of a cigarette butt may be bent without splitting although in a fresh cigarette the paper splits easily; a half-burned cigar may be roughly handled in an ashtray although before lighting, it must be handled carefully to avoid breaking the wrapper leaf; and the tobacco at the bottom of a three-quarter burned pipe bowl is wet and soggy.

Applicant reached the conclusion that what was needed was something at the bottom of the bowl of a pipe that would absorb and condense gases and vapors and absorb condensates, and that, as the burning flame came closer to the bottom, a material therein would become hot and re-evaporate water to the outside of the bowl and also back into the smoke so that the smoke from the tobacco burned in the lower part of the bowl was not too dry.

The general object of this invention is to produce a pipe which will continuously deliver to the mouth a smoke having a `fairly uniform water vapor or moisture content and will reduce moisture buildup in the bottom of the bowl.

A specific object of this invention is to position a waterabsorptive and water-emissive hearth in the bottom of the bowl of a briar pipe. The cold hearth will condense some moisture and absorb it. Then as the hearth gets hotter, due to the approach of the lire, the hearth will re-evaporate the water that it contains into the smoke going to the mouth. The hearth is at the bottom of the pipe bowl, and there must be no place for moisture to collect excepting by contacting the hearth. As the lire burns down to the hearth, the hearth reaches a temperature that causes the material of this yhearth to emit its water back into the smoke. A feature of this invention is the provision of a hearth which when cool will condense water vapor, but upon heating will re-vaporize it. This hearth is positioned in the bottom of the bowl of the pipe and forms part of the briar wall.

Another object ancillary to the foregoing object is to make the balance of the bowl out of a material that does not absorb water. A meerschaum pipe, the entire bowl of which is made of meerschaum, does not perform ICC as applicants pipe performs, because the water condenses on the whole of the inside of the bowl and with the result that there is less saturation `of the meerschaum at the bottom. Applicants pipe functions by condensing vapor primarily at the bottom of the chamber in an ab- .sorptive material that has a nature such that as the temperature of this hearth rises, it returns the water into the smoke, and if a wall of the material is exposed to the atmosphere, it releases water into the atmosphere. If there were water-absorptive material elsewhere in the bowl, as on the side walls of a meerschaum pipe, part of the water will lbe absorbed there and the smoke` will become drier. A meerschaum bowl will prevent the collection of water in the bottom of the pipe by absorbing the water at all points of the bowl wall. Applicants object is to condense water on the hearth only, and this means utilizing a substance such as briar for the bowl. The vapor, therefore, primarily condenses on the meerschaum, which will revaporize the water as the meerschaum becomes hotter.

Another object of this invention is to provide enough meerschaum surface and volume to substantially instantly absorb condensed mois-ture when the hearth is close to room temperatures. When one places a drop of water on a Hat meerschaum surface, the water disappears in five or six seconds. If the flat surface has an area such that the drop will just cover it, and one releases a drop onto this surface, the drop will not disappear from the surface for six or seven seconds. The surface of the meerschaum saturates and the water is slowly carried deeper into the meerschaum. Applicant desires suicient surface on the meerschaum hearth so that water never wets the surface, and he desires a volume of meerschaum sufficient to maintain a desirable level of liquid and vapor in the tobacco and the smoke when burning tobacco in the lower half of the bowl.

Another object is to provide a substance which will maintain a reasonably constant amount of moisture in the smoke moving to the mouth. The requirement of the substance is that at room temperatures the substance will be substantially dry and capable of absorbing almost its own volume of water. As its temperature increases, it re-evaporates water. During either, its volume must remain constant.

The invention both as to its organization and principle of operation together with other objects, features and advantages may best be understood by reference to the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE l is a side sectional View of a pipe utilizing a rst embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the hearth used in the embodiment of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side sectional view of a second embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a plan View of a hearth as used in the embodiment of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a side sectional view of a third embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a hearth as used in the embodiment of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a side sectional view of la fourth embodiment of the invention; and,

FIGURE 8 is a side sectional view of a -fth embodiment of the invention.

Shown in FIGURE l is a first embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the smoking pipe lil is constructed primarily of briar or similar wood or corn cob common to pipe construction. The pipe lil includes bowl l2 and stem 14 formed integrally. The bit is not shown. The bowl l2 has an open-topped tobaccofeceiving chamber 16 which in the model shown is substantially cylindrical with a cupped bottom 18. The bowl chamber I2 fand the stem 14 are constructed of briar as a unit. A .substantially circular hole 2l is cut through the base of the bowl along its vertical axis and into this hole from above is pressed a meerschaum hearth 22 which has a 'smoke passageway 30 that registers with the passageway 20 in the stem lidi. The inside surface of the hearth 22 is concave as indicated by 24, while the outside surface 26 is curved to complete the bottom of a standard briar pipe.

To construct a pipe of the type shown in FIGURE lI the cylindrical bowl chamber is drilled or otherwise machine cut from the top of the bowl completely through the base of the bowl. The bowl, once this drilling operation is completed, is a tube open at 'both the top and the bottom. A hearth 22 of virtually the same outer diameter as the inside diameter of the bowl chamber is press tted or adhesively bonded into the bottom of this tube opening from above and the passage 30 in hearth is placed in registry with the stem passage Ztl.

This hearth is made of meerschaum, which may be powdered and molded into the circular shape desired, or merely cut from a block to the required shape.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. This pipe 31 is similar to pipe 10 previously described as to general configuration and material, i.e., briar. To construct pipe 31, the bowl 32 is intercepted at its base by a generally cylindrical cavity 34. vAt right angles to this cavity is a passage similar to the passageway 20, which at one end is in communication with cavity 34 and passes through the stern 36 to the pipe mouthpiece. Into cavity `3d is press itted or adhered the hearth 4i) of meerschaum, the upper inside surface 42 of which is concave, the circumference 44 of which is circular, and the bottom surface 46 of which is convex to conform to the shape of the bowl. A passage 48 opens into the concave upper surface 42 0f the hearth and registers with the stem passage to provide the smoke exit to the mouthpiece.

The remaining three embodiments show progressively larger hearths. As in the rst two embodiments, the burning initially occurs adjacent a wall, i.e., briar, of low water-absorptive properties. Vapor-laden smoke is carried downwardly against an initially cool meerschaum hearth which absorbs the water. As the hearth heats and the smoke becomes drier, the hearth re-emits vapor to moisten the smoke.

In the third embodiment shown in FIGURES and 6, the pipe bowl 50 is drilled from above to form the tobacco-receiving chamber, and an enlarged cut 52 coaxial to the first cut is made to provide an enlarged cutout in the base of the bowl. In addition, the lower half 54 of the stem 56 is cut away below the stem smoke passage 58. The meerschaum hearth 60 for use in this pipe has a generally curved outer surface 62 with a concave inside surface 64 which acts as the bowl chamber base and has a longitudinal stem section. This hearth and stern section of meerschaum is mated with the remaining stem portion to close a major portion of the passage from the bowl to the mouthpiece (not shown).

The fourth and fifth embodiments of the invention connbine the base of the bowl with a portion of the stem to form a bowl and stem holder of meerschaum. In FIG- URE 7, the bowl 72 is a sleeve or cylinder of briar, and is open at both ends. An internal recess 73 is formed in the base of this bowl. The bowl and stern holder 76 is made of meerschaum. This hearth 76 forms a larger part of the re cavity than the earlier embodiments. This meerschaum holder carries an annular shoulder 83 which seats in the recess 73 of the lbriar bowl 72, and at its other end, it carries a shoulder 74 which seats into a recess 75 of an auxiliary stern 77.

The last embodiment of the invention is similar to that of FIGURE 7, excepting that the entire stem portion of the bowl and bit holder 9@ is formed of meerschaum.

The function of the pipe Pipe tobacco is deliberately moistened or humidiied, and many pipe smokers store tobacco in a humidor in order to keep it properly humidified. When this tobacco is placed in an all briar pipe, the humidity in the tobacco has to be evaporated as the tobacco reaches temperatures of 212 F., which is far below the combustion temperature of the tobacco. This water vapor condenses in the tobacco in the lower part of the tobacco cavity and on the briar in this area. As combustion progresses downwards in the tobacco cavity, the original humidity as well a3 the condensed moisture in the tobacco should be evaporated. Due to the constantly increasing temperatures, much of this excess moisture which is changed to steam, will recondense in the areas of the pipe that are below 2l2D F., and these areas eventually consist ofthe bottom of the tobacco cavity and the briar stem of the pipe. This condensate can build up to the point rvvhereby combustion will cease, although there is unburned tobacco in the bottom of the tobacco cavity which is too wet to burn even with many re-lightings. There is also an increased possibility of a much more undesirable occurrence known as the wet slug whereby condensate is actually drawn into the smokers mouth.

By incorporating a meerschaum bottom in the tobacco cavity, these undesirable features of an all-briar pipe are eliminated or appreciably reduced. The meerschaum will absorb excess moisture and before it becomes saturated, evaporation will take place on the outside surface of the meerschaum. This and possibly some adsorption of gases results in the traditional yellowing of meerschaum when used as a smoking pipe. When relatively dry tobacco is smoked in the pipe, a phenomenon occurs whereby the meerschaum apparently emits vapor to the smoke. Therefore it has become apparent that regardless of the moisture content of the tobacco, a briar and meerschaum pipe will give a consistently more enjoyable smoke than a pipe made wholly of either of these materials.

Meerschaum equivalents Applicants experiments with substances for the hearth initially included the clays. The term clay may be very broad. Applicant found that when limited to substances containing alumina, A102, he could not obtain the desired result. A clay hearth seems to be porous so that any water entering the clay is contained in the pores. As the hearth heats, the water is not expelled. There seems to be a dierent way in which meerschaum holds water and the clays hold it. It is believed that natural meerschaum could absorb its own volume of water without expanding, which suggests that the water molecules are going into a semisolid solution with the meerschaum. It is not believed that this is what happens with the clays, at least not to any great extent. The essential thing is the characteristic of driving off the water as the meerschaum heats. Other substances of somewhat similar chemical formulas are asbestos and serpentine, but neither are satisfactory for applicants purposes. Asbestos is clearly brous at room temperatures and serpentine is not the stiif solid which applicant requires.

The combination of a low-absorptive bowl with a hearth will do some absorbing and some emitting. If the water in the vapor during the initial burning can be drawn downwardly into the bowl and some of it delayed by holding it in such a position that it can be re-vaporized during the later burnng, this ability of the absorptive-emissive material will tend to accomplish what applicant desires. Meerschaum is believed to be by far the best material to accomplished applicants purpose.

Having thus described his invention, what applicant claims is:

1. A smoking pipe comprising a tobacco bowl for smoking, said bowl being made of wood and having its bottom substantially open, an upwardly ooncave hearth positioned in and `closing said opening, said hearth having high waterabsorptive value at room temperatures and high water* emissive values at substantially higher temperatures, the external surface of the hearth being a portion of the outer wall of the pipe, a stem extending from the lower portion of the bowl, a smoke duct extending through said stern, and a smoke duct in the hearth connecting the lower portion of the bowl to the smoke duct in the stem.

2. The smoking pipe of claim 1 wherein the bowl and stem are integral.

3. The smoking pipe of claim 1 wherein the material of the hearth is meerschaum.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 826,098 7/1906 Gaylord. 1,356,388 10/1920 Mooney 131-224 1,988,211 1/1935 Nelson 131-222 FOREIGN PATENTS 140,602 2/1935 Austria.

857 4/1860 Great Britain. 22,939 10/1908 Great Britain. 267,843 3/ 1927 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner. JSEPH S. REICH, Examiner. 

1. A SMOKING PIPE COMPRISING A TOBACCO BOWL FOR SMOKING, SAID BOWL BEING MADE OF WOOD AND HAVING ITS BOTTOM SUBSTANTIALLY OPEN, AN UPWARDLY CONCAVE HEARTH POSITIONED IN AND CLOSING SAID OPENING, SAID HEARTH HAVING HIGH WATERABSORPTIVE VALUE AT ROOM TEMPERATURES AND HIGH WATEREMISSIVE VALUES AT SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER TEMPERATURES, THE EXTERNAL SURFACE OF THE HEARTH BEING A PORTION OF THE OUTER WALL OF THE PIPE, A STEM EXTENDING FROM THE LOWER PORTION OF THE BOWL, A SMOKE DUCT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID STEM, 